Weekly Election Update: What did Bibi Say this Time? (Click through for info on winning an Amazon gift certificate)

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Did Bibi make one of the dumbest comments in recent Israeli political history? Is this all part of the Yediot Aharonot conspiracy to destroy the Netanyahus? We may never know. However, some reports have Bibi saying that he understood the pain of Amona residents because he once had to leave the PM’s residence and move to the Sheraton Plaza. Some people who were at the meeting denied the quote (though their version is similar) and said that Bibi expressed empathy for residents at the meeting. It could make for great campaign fodder if only the opposition could use it without expressing solidarity with Amona residents.

Either way, the budget for the next two years has been passed making it less likely that Bibi will have to leave the Prime Minister’s residence again anytime soon. After the budget passed, a number of Likud MKs celebrated with fish made by one of the MKs and Jack Daniels. If Jack Daniels would like to sponsor this blog, I promise to mention the divine elixir in every post.

MK Moshe Kahlon showed signs of life in a blistering attack against their centrist opponents Yair Lapid and Yesh Atid. Kahlon, heretofore assumed to be walking the plane of political existence between the living and the dead, accused Lapid of hypocrisy for criticizing ministry wide cuts even though Lapid took similar and even more stringent measures when he was Finance Minister. Mocking Lapid’s penchant to act as a shadow Foreign Minister, Kahlon told Yesh Atid members to go travel ’round the world some more while work continued in the Knesset. In a vicious move, he read from Yesh Atid’s platform and pointed out all the things that Kulanu had achieved from the document where Yesh Atid had failed.

MK Amir Peretz officially threw his hat into the ring to be the head of the Labor Party. Peretz, who is best known for supporting the Iron Dome system and looking through closed binoculars while he was Defense Minister, is entering a packed field featuring Isaac Herzog, Shelly Yachimovitch, Gabi Ashkenazi and Erel Margalit. Peretz is looking to attract voters from the right.

MK Basel Ghattas was accused of smuggling cell phones and notes to two prisoners, one of whom killed an IDF soldier. The incident will once again raise the notion of banning Ghattas’ party, Balad, from the Knesset. In his defense, He did succeed in uniting Zionist Union MK Merav “Lior’s not marriage material” Michaeli, Likud MK The Notorious Oren Hazan, United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael “14 kids and counting” Eichler and HaBayit HaYehudi MK Bezalel “Shana Bet” Smotrich in opposition to a proposal banning MKs from visiting national security prisoners. It’s a Chanukka miracle!

Totally precise and not arbitrary election date: February 6, 2018

Winner: Yesh Atid

Runner Up: Likud

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